thedrifter
04-25-09, 07:46 AM
U.S. Army War College
Jim Thorpe Sports Days: They are all part of one team
By Joseph Cress, Sentinel Reporter, April 25, 2009
Last updated: Saturday, April 25, 2009 1:12 AM EDT
Once a Marine, always a Marine. There can be no other way.
As Rick Uribe set his sights this weekend on defeating his brethren, he also planned to root for the Corps to come in a close second behind the U.S. Army War College.
A Marine lieutenant colonel, Uribe was among the 200 student athletes who represented the U.S. Army War College during the annual Jim Thorpe Sports Days at Carlisle Barracks.
Named in honor of the great American athlete, the event also brought together future strategic leaders from the Air War College, National War College, Marine Corps War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. The Naval War College was unable to send athletes this year.
All the senior service colleges include student officers from the various military branches, International Fellows and top civilian officials from the Department of Defense and other federal agencies.
With this in mind, Uribe said he had no problem taking on the contingent of brother Marines sent up from Quantico, Va.
“I will do my best to beat them when I compete against them,” he said. “I am ready. It’s just a matter of execution.”
Uribe added he would cheer for the Marine Corps team from the sidelines, after battling them on the soccer field and volleyball court.
Air Force Lt. Col. Laura Ryan, who also represented the U.S. Army War College, had no problem taking on competition from the Air War College in volleyball and the relay races.
“They are just another team to crush,” she said. Ryan added the challenge will be trying to plot strategy and tactics without advance intelligence on the opposing forces.
None of those interviewed had a scouting report or roster sheet on the teams they were about to face.
Volleyball coach John Connolly, 69, of North Middleton Township was confident in his team heading into the annual competition. “We have a game plan,” he said. “We plan to impose our will on the other teams ... to make them adjust to us, not us to adjust to them.”
Lt. Col. Greg Fernandez is an officer with the Air National Guard playing basketball on the U.S. Army War College team. As part of the inter-service rivalry, he anticipated some posturing and trash talk, but nothing mean-spirited.
“I will give as much for Army as I would for the Air Force,” said Fernandez on the question of team loyalty. “We’re going to be competitive and work hard. We are going to beat the other teams.”
Fernandez noted how, ultimately, every athlete participating in sports day is on the same team. “We all have a good time,” he said.
Winning reputation
Having won 29 of the last 34 Jim Thorpe Sports Days, the U.S. Army War College had a reputation to uphold with the largest team and home field advantage working in its favor, said Chuck Gentile, sports director for Carlisle Barracks.
Gentile explained how all the service branches are working with fewer athletes this year because they are spending more time with family in between deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Another advantage the U.S. Army War College enjoys is that it is the primary tenant of the Carlisle Barracks installation, meaning the students have the priority when it comes to scheduling time in athletic facilities, Gentile said. The other war colleges are secondary tenants on installations where other service members have the priority.
Historically, the arch rival of the U.S. Army War College has been the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Connolly noted how ICAF usually fields a good team, a rowdy crowd of fans and a tiger as a mascot.
“They are more determined than the other schools,” Connolly said. “They make winning sports days a priority.”
More than competition
Those interviewed agree there is more to sports days than the competition. The weekend includes many social events giving students the opportunity to interact with colleagues they will likely associate with later in their careers.
“We can meet with each other and compare our experiences at the schools,” Ryan said.
Uribe added the majority of future strategic leaders in the United States graduate out of one of the senior service colleges.
Connolly noted while the bond among war college students is already strong, it seems to be even stronger among those who played on the athletic teams in this annual competition.
Participation in sports days also encourages senior officers to participate more in sports events with lower ranking soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, Connolly said. This builds morale as it proves to the rank and file that officers are human and can relate to them.
Uribe said naming the event after one of the greatest athletes of all time is a salute to the value that athleticism has in the military. Jim Thorpe attended the Carlisle Industrial Indian School when it was housed at Carlisle Barracks.
What do you say to a legend?
George Yuda was only 10 years old when he came face to face with a sports legend.
It was 1934 and Jim Thorpe had stopped by unannounced to visit his old friend, Montreville Speed Yuda — known to be the last Indian School student to call Carlisle home.
While his father and Thorpe swapped stories of good and bad times, George Yuda could only watch in awe of the man who many still consider the greatest athlete of all time.
When confronted with such a celebrity, what do you talk about? Yuda, now 85, posed the question Friday just before the opening ceremony of Jim Thorpe Sports Days at Carlisle Barracks.
“I didn’t know what to say,” he recalled. “I was not sure what to talk about.”
But Thorpe was down to earth, and soon the superstar and youngster were able to talk sports. While Yuda could not relate to the old stories, he certainly learned something that day.
Thorpe had played baseball with Montreville Speed Yuda when the two men were students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. While his father played second base, Thorpe played the outfield for an Indian School team called the Outlaws, Yuda said.
Thorpe loved contact sports like football — back before there were modern day shoulder pads and other protective gear.
“You had to pour it on, full steam ahead,” Yuda said. “If you got in the middle of it, you were in bad shape.”
Seated nearby on Friday was John Thorpe, grandson of Jim Thorpe, who arrived from Lake Tahoe to participate in the ceremony.
John Thorpe, 54, is the son of Charlotte Marie Thorpe, one of three daughters of Jim Thorpe and his first wife, Iva Miller. John Thorpe was born in 1956, three years after his grandfather died of a heart attack.
“It is an honor to be here,” John Thorpe said. “It is nice that an event like this keeps my grandfather’s name alive. He would be thrilled people compete in multiple sports on the same field where he played.”
He gets goosebumps just talking on Indian Field, where legendary football coach “Pop” Warner trained his father, Thorpe added. In many ways, he said, the Indian School and its students were family for his grandfather.
Yuda was also pleased the Army is keeping alive the tradition of sports competition on Indian Field. The spirit of competitiveness and winning lives on with the annual competition, he added.
Ellie
Jim Thorpe Sports Days: They are all part of one team
By Joseph Cress, Sentinel Reporter, April 25, 2009
Last updated: Saturday, April 25, 2009 1:12 AM EDT
Once a Marine, always a Marine. There can be no other way.
As Rick Uribe set his sights this weekend on defeating his brethren, he also planned to root for the Corps to come in a close second behind the U.S. Army War College.
A Marine lieutenant colonel, Uribe was among the 200 student athletes who represented the U.S. Army War College during the annual Jim Thorpe Sports Days at Carlisle Barracks.
Named in honor of the great American athlete, the event also brought together future strategic leaders from the Air War College, National War College, Marine Corps War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. The Naval War College was unable to send athletes this year.
All the senior service colleges include student officers from the various military branches, International Fellows and top civilian officials from the Department of Defense and other federal agencies.
With this in mind, Uribe said he had no problem taking on the contingent of brother Marines sent up from Quantico, Va.
“I will do my best to beat them when I compete against them,” he said. “I am ready. It’s just a matter of execution.”
Uribe added he would cheer for the Marine Corps team from the sidelines, after battling them on the soccer field and volleyball court.
Air Force Lt. Col. Laura Ryan, who also represented the U.S. Army War College, had no problem taking on competition from the Air War College in volleyball and the relay races.
“They are just another team to crush,” she said. Ryan added the challenge will be trying to plot strategy and tactics without advance intelligence on the opposing forces.
None of those interviewed had a scouting report or roster sheet on the teams they were about to face.
Volleyball coach John Connolly, 69, of North Middleton Township was confident in his team heading into the annual competition. “We have a game plan,” he said. “We plan to impose our will on the other teams ... to make them adjust to us, not us to adjust to them.”
Lt. Col. Greg Fernandez is an officer with the Air National Guard playing basketball on the U.S. Army War College team. As part of the inter-service rivalry, he anticipated some posturing and trash talk, but nothing mean-spirited.
“I will give as much for Army as I would for the Air Force,” said Fernandez on the question of team loyalty. “We’re going to be competitive and work hard. We are going to beat the other teams.”
Fernandez noted how, ultimately, every athlete participating in sports day is on the same team. “We all have a good time,” he said.
Winning reputation
Having won 29 of the last 34 Jim Thorpe Sports Days, the U.S. Army War College had a reputation to uphold with the largest team and home field advantage working in its favor, said Chuck Gentile, sports director for Carlisle Barracks.
Gentile explained how all the service branches are working with fewer athletes this year because they are spending more time with family in between deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Another advantage the U.S. Army War College enjoys is that it is the primary tenant of the Carlisle Barracks installation, meaning the students have the priority when it comes to scheduling time in athletic facilities, Gentile said. The other war colleges are secondary tenants on installations where other service members have the priority.
Historically, the arch rival of the U.S. Army War College has been the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Connolly noted how ICAF usually fields a good team, a rowdy crowd of fans and a tiger as a mascot.
“They are more determined than the other schools,” Connolly said. “They make winning sports days a priority.”
More than competition
Those interviewed agree there is more to sports days than the competition. The weekend includes many social events giving students the opportunity to interact with colleagues they will likely associate with later in their careers.
“We can meet with each other and compare our experiences at the schools,” Ryan said.
Uribe added the majority of future strategic leaders in the United States graduate out of one of the senior service colleges.
Connolly noted while the bond among war college students is already strong, it seems to be even stronger among those who played on the athletic teams in this annual competition.
Participation in sports days also encourages senior officers to participate more in sports events with lower ranking soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, Connolly said. This builds morale as it proves to the rank and file that officers are human and can relate to them.
Uribe said naming the event after one of the greatest athletes of all time is a salute to the value that athleticism has in the military. Jim Thorpe attended the Carlisle Industrial Indian School when it was housed at Carlisle Barracks.
What do you say to a legend?
George Yuda was only 10 years old when he came face to face with a sports legend.
It was 1934 and Jim Thorpe had stopped by unannounced to visit his old friend, Montreville Speed Yuda — known to be the last Indian School student to call Carlisle home.
While his father and Thorpe swapped stories of good and bad times, George Yuda could only watch in awe of the man who many still consider the greatest athlete of all time.
When confronted with such a celebrity, what do you talk about? Yuda, now 85, posed the question Friday just before the opening ceremony of Jim Thorpe Sports Days at Carlisle Barracks.
“I didn’t know what to say,” he recalled. “I was not sure what to talk about.”
But Thorpe was down to earth, and soon the superstar and youngster were able to talk sports. While Yuda could not relate to the old stories, he certainly learned something that day.
Thorpe had played baseball with Montreville Speed Yuda when the two men were students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. While his father played second base, Thorpe played the outfield for an Indian School team called the Outlaws, Yuda said.
Thorpe loved contact sports like football — back before there were modern day shoulder pads and other protective gear.
“You had to pour it on, full steam ahead,” Yuda said. “If you got in the middle of it, you were in bad shape.”
Seated nearby on Friday was John Thorpe, grandson of Jim Thorpe, who arrived from Lake Tahoe to participate in the ceremony.
John Thorpe, 54, is the son of Charlotte Marie Thorpe, one of three daughters of Jim Thorpe and his first wife, Iva Miller. John Thorpe was born in 1956, three years after his grandfather died of a heart attack.
“It is an honor to be here,” John Thorpe said. “It is nice that an event like this keeps my grandfather’s name alive. He would be thrilled people compete in multiple sports on the same field where he played.”
He gets goosebumps just talking on Indian Field, where legendary football coach “Pop” Warner trained his father, Thorpe added. In many ways, he said, the Indian School and its students were family for his grandfather.
Yuda was also pleased the Army is keeping alive the tradition of sports competition on Indian Field. The spirit of competitiveness and winning lives on with the annual competition, he added.
Ellie